Icewind Dale 3-Man

[Berekän]

Hello Codex, I'm going to start a coop game of Icewind Dale along other two people. We've never played the IWD series but afaik it's Baldur's Gate more focused on the combat and less on the plot (if there's any), which should make it better for multiplaying.

We've been thinking of just using 3 characters, if I'm not mistaken exp & gold gain remains equal regardless of the party size, right? Is it viable playing with just a wizard, a cleric and a warrior?

Any advice is welcomed, we're not of the powergaming kind, though, so we're not likely to minmax a Kensai/Wizard just because it's the awesome, we're looking for something more balanced and fun.

Thanks in advance.

 

[SCO]

wizard|sorcerer, cleric, ranger.

 

[taxalot]

What intrigues me most is how you found two people to play IWD with you in this day and age.

 

[JrK]

Is it viable playing with just a wizard, a cleric and a warrior? [...] , so we're not likely to minmax a Kensai/Wizard just because it's the awesome, we're looking for something more balanced and fun.

IWD1 doesn't have BG2 kits so you cannot play kensai. You can play with a wizard, cleric and warrior but I recommend a slight difference. Seriously consider playing 3 fighters to lvl3, let the wizard and cleric dual class to their respective classes. You will run out of spells all the time and you need the cleric and wizard to pull their own weight when they do.

The wizard/cleric players will get bored otherwise. They cannot hit shit because only fighters are worth anything in adnd 2nd.

 

[Haba]

I read the title as "Icewind Dale 3" and threw up in my mouth, thanks.

Also listen to JrK, to increase the slim chance of the playthrough lasting more than a few hours, you'll want to have less squishy robefags.

 

[Crichton]

I would guess that the most interesting and practical three-person IWD party would be:

Fighter/Druid
Ranger/Cleric
Fighter/Mage/Thief

The F/M/T will be a bit of a slow starter but you really don't want to do without a thief, too many nasty traps. Fighter druids get some spells get some nice magic and can wear any damn armor they like due to a poorly worded PHB and a ranger cleric can get an extra hammering in per round by having a one-handed weapon in each of his first two weapon slots and not carrying a shield.

 

[Oesophagus]

A thief is a must, the traps in IWD1 are just too annoying

 

[Volourn]

"The wizard/cleric players will get bored otherwise. They cannot hit shit because only fighters are worth anything in adnd 2nd"

Just not true.


"A thief is a must, the traps in IWD1 are just too annoyin"

Nah. A thief is never needed.


Fighter, Mage, and Cleric is the perfect 3 character party.

 

[Erebus]

IWD is a dungeon crawl and has tons of traps. I recommend having a thief.

 

[racofer]

I read the title as "Icewind Dale 3" and threw up in my mouth, thanks.

Same here man, same here.

:point:

 

[weirwood]

Fighter
Bard
Cleric/Thief

I rolled through Heart of Fury mode with that crew back in the day and had a blast. High-level bard songs are awesome in IWD, and the C/T can do sneak attacks at range with spiritual hammer.

 

[Zed]

I played the following:
fighter/cleric
ranger
mage/thief
It was ezpz.

 

[kmonster]

With 3 characters each one gets twice as many XP as in a party of 6 so multiclassing won't unbalance the game. A single class wizard will reach new casting levels long before he finds scrolls. A thief isn't needed, especially if you can't get the other players to sit still while you slowly search for traps but backstabbing can be very powerful.

Playing a party of wizard, cleric and warrior should work (I recommend ranger as warrior to get access to low level druid spells and illusionist as wizard for extra spells), if the game gets too hard and you have HoW installed don't be afraid to lower the difficulty, at easiest difficulty all XP gain will be doubled.
Make sure everyone has high strength so you don't have to bother with low carrying capacity

 

[felipepepe]

Figther/Thief, Cleric(possibly /Fighter) and a Wizard should work well.

 

[Pablosdog]

Kensei, mage, and cleric

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Figther/Thief, Cleric(possibly /Fighter) and a Wizard should work well.

Not really, wizard would be overlevelled and would not have anything to cast despite being able to. I completed IWD with 6 characters on the highest difficulty (double xp) and this problem was very evident.

 

[Bulba]

I'm pretty sure they had sorcerors, so you can replace a wiz with one... but I would recomend going for dualclass at lvl 5 or 8 for maximum power.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

IWD doesn't have sorcerer/monk/barbarian classes, nor has it the subclass kits.

 

[JrK]

You have only fighter, ranger, paladin, thief, bard, cleric, druid, wizard, and the valid multi/dual class combinations thereof.

 

[felipepepe]

Figther/Thief, Cleric(possibly /Fighter) and a Wizard should work well.

Not really, wizard would be overlevelled and would not have anything to cast despite being able to. I completed IWD with 6 characters on the highest difficulty (double xp) and this problem was very evident.

IIRC if you make him a human fighter, focused on one hand (no shield) & bow and them multi-class to mage you'll get a good archer on the first levels and a mage with good AC on later levels, due the one hand sword skill. I made a very badass acharacter like that on BG I, should work well on IWD I too.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Well yes, dual- or multi classing is a good solution, pure wizard will be mostly wasted with the extra exp/levels. IWD rather sucks when it comes to possible interesting party compositions. I really disliked the fact that HoW did not add the extra classes/kits despite the fact that it came out after BG2 and upgraded IWD engine to BG2 standards.

 

[DalekFlay]

Never played IWD before, just never got around to it. Finishing up a Fallout 2 replay today or tomorrow and looking to play IWD next. One big question I have is about party size.

Some people I trust have told me IWD is best with 3 or 4 characters rather than a full 6. Is this true? If so which classes do you suggest?

Thanks!

 

[Jaesun]

bump

 

[DalekFlay]

bump

Never thought there would be an exact thread on this, my mistake. Thanks.

Sounds like two ranged and a fighter is the way to go.

 

[maverick]

I'm currently replaying Icewind Dale 1 with a party of six on insane difficulty (for the bonus exp). And damn, the monsters are hitting hard, to the point that I'm forced to rest after every 2-3 battles o.o